Rich communication services, also referred to as the rich communication suite, refer to a set of services, in addition to conventional voice service, created by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA). The rich communication services being created by the GSMA are based on combining services defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) to further harness the benefits of the 3GPP Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). Such rich communication services include, for example, instant messaging, video and image sharing, video calling, etc. In general, to invoke these rich communication services in a user's mobile device, the user interface entry point is the enhanced address book (EAB) specified by OMA. Device-to-device communication capability, by which two or more user devices in proximity to each other can establish direct connections and support applications and services over these connections, is not yet supported in the rich communication services framework.
To clarify multiple layers and regions, the thickness of the layers are enlarged in the drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts, elements, etc.